The Court's Historian
by pieroki
Summary: It made no sense to her, it was just a sport. Volleyball wasn't going to guarantee you a future and yet they were so passionate about it. The chances of becoming a professional athlete is about 24,550 to 1, so why did they even bother? But they had one thing that she didn't, passion. This passion was contagious, and it started to slowly change her.
1. Chapter 1: the beginning

Sports manga (it's an anime now!) will be the death of me.

Anyways, if you have any thoughts drop me a review, that would be much appreciated.

* * *

_For an ephemeral moment, she swore she saw wings on their backs. So she took a picture, scared that they would fly off somewhere and leave nothing behind._

The bustling hallways filled with people, the conversations that permeated the corridors, the restlessness of the footsteps as they rushed to get to their destination, this place was where dreams were made and broken all in the same day, a place where bonds that last a lifetime are made, a place that could be called the picturesque definition of youth or another hell, and the word that bound these definitions together, school.

"transfer huh, at this time of year? And all the way from Tokyo too! But I'm not surprised, with your background you look like you could handle anything!" She watched as the small teacher flipped through the manila folder with ease, inspecting each and every aspect of the confidential portfolio. The girl stood near the teacher as she fiddled uncomfortably with her fingers.

"thank you," Her face flushed a deep red as she looked down in embarrassment, secretly happy with his praise, "but sensei about the-"

"Wow, you went to such a prestigious school! Why the transfer though?" The folder was shut with a small thud as it was placed back on the messy table after a thorough examination. The faculty room was filled with teachers as classes were nearing to an end and it was similar to the cacophony of students in the morning.

"it just… happened like that I guess," Instinctively, her hand brushed a lock of her dark brown hair, a color that had never changed since the day she was born, behind her unpierced ears. "Anyways sensei about that-"

"yes yes, of course, I'd be more than happy to have such a qualified student helping with the club financials!" From behind his glasses his eyes sparkled and with both hands, he grasped hers as a sign of gratitude.

"well actually…" She stared at the literature teacher, who frankly, looked like he could be the same age as her. His black hair stuck out everywhere, and it didn't help that he was wearing glasses that she could find students wearing today. She took a deep breath, trying to pick the words that would best clear up the misunderstanding. What she had wanted was to join a club because after all, it was not advantageous of her to not join one, especially when everyone else had joined one already and besides, taking an active part in a club would look good on her already impressive resume for college. But because of her status as a transfer student, she was to be put into a makeshift position until paperwork was settled and so instead of going into a club she had become an assistant. But before she could say anything, a strange noise that could be interpreted as a bell resonated across the room, and it was a signal that the conversation would have to be postponed.

"We can talk on the way, I have to tell the club the good news," as he stood up, papers from his desk flew up into the air, "hurry!"

She stared as he motioned for her to follow him. The situation kept getting more and more difficult by the minute, and she didn't know how to tell him that she had zero idea of helping the volleyball club. All Kurumi wanted was something impressive to put on her college application because for her, nothing else really mattered besides her education.

"Kurumi-san, right?" He turned around and flashed a smile at her as he continued walking through the hallways.

"Ah, yes, uh sensei-" She raised her voice again in an attempt clear the misunderstanding that this was only a tentative position for her.

"I'm so happy you're here. I actually don't know a lot about volleyball but I somehow became the faculty adviser for the club. I really want to help them out but as someone who doesn't have a lot of experience in volleyball, what I can do is so limited. I know that this doesn't sound promising as other clubs so I just wanted to properly thank you," Takeda Ittetsu expressed his sincere feelings and Kurumi could sense the earnestness in his voice and she knew that she could not bring herself to say no to him after what he had said.

"but anyways, you wanted to say something before?" Takeda pushed his glasses up with his index finger and awaited her response.

"… it's nothing, I just wanted to tell you how excited I am to be working with you," she smiled politely at him. The two of them walked briskly past the classrooms filled with students, conversing about what their plans were after school and for the first time in a long time, Kurumi felt as if she was in a normal high school.

"Well here we are," He announced motioning to the grandiose gym of Karasuno."To be honest, I haven't met all the new members yet. There's a fresh batch of first years that I haven't seen yet, but they're all good kids, you'll see what I mean when you meet them."

With a somewhat lacking introduction he opened the doors to the gymnasium and Kurumi was struck with a blinding light.

"We have a practice match with Aobajousai high school!" He dashed in at full speed, the delight on clearly plastered onto his face.

Kurumi watched from behind as the members of the volleyball team gathered around him and made a huge commotion about this practice match. As Takeda was explaining the details of the practice match as well as the conditions, Kurumi stared at each one of the people present in the gymnasium. She split them into two categories: scary and friendly. On the scary side were three people: a tall blonde male with glasses, who in her eyes seemed like a giant, a male with a buzz cut, who seemed to be angry all the time, and another male who looked studious but had an overwhelming aura around him. Conversely, on the friendly side there were four people: a male with freckles, who looked eternally nervous, a gray haired male who was emitting a sense of stability, another black haired male who she was able to distinct as the captain, a very short orange haired boy who reminded her of a dog and a beautiful girl who looked like she could be a model.

"Also, I'd like to introduce you to my assistant! This is Kurumi." Takeda gave her a slight push towards the group and she slid into the gym. Her eyes darted back to her teacher and he gave her a reassuring look.

"Hello, I'm Kurumi, 2nd year, nice to meet you," She said as she stepped into the middle of the circle of people that were gathering around her.

The team captain was the first to shake her hand and just by being accepted by him, she felt a feeling of comfort, "Daichi Sawamura, 3rd year, Captain,"

"I'm Koushi Sugawara, also 3rd year and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!" The gray haired boy now known as Sugawara said. Kurumi turned her head to greet the next person, only to find that no one was there.

"I could have sworn that someone was here," she muttered to herself.

"This is Tanaka," Sugawara laughed, pushing Tanaka towards her, "he's a little shy,"

"R…ryosuke tanaka," The thug looking boy stuttered, looking down and Kurumi couldn't help but notice his personality was nothing like his appearance.

"Don't mind him," A soft voice echoed next to her, "Kiyoko Shimizu, 3rd year, manager."

At the sound of such a feminine voice, Kurumi jumped and she felt her shoulders tense up, "It's a pleasure to meet you!" She exclaimed in a voice a little bit louder than she expected. The first years all turned and stared at her.

"uh.. I'm Yamaguchi Tadashi, 1st year…", the freckled boy trailed off as he gave her a somewhat aloof smile, "oh and this is—"

"Tsukishima, Tsukishima Kei," The blondie peered down at her intimidatingly with a frown on his face. She immediately felt as if she had shrunk to the size of a toddler as he stared down at her, his body looming over hers.

"Ah, don't worry about him, he's just a jerk!" The orange haired kid exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at him, "I'm Hinata Shouyo!"

As soon as his mouth curved into a smile, she felt her heart melt as if he was her adopted puppy. She felt a sense of responsibility towards him, as if he needed to be protected.

"…cute," she quietly blurted out and immediately turned red when she realized she had accidentally said that out loud.

"huh?" Hinata tilted his head and looked back at her with an innocent expression.

"n…nothing!" She quickly covered up, embarrassed.

"Kageyama Tobio," The smart looking male shot out his hand at her and looked at her directly in the eye, showing no signs of embarrassment.

Kurumi jumped back at the sudden action and slid her hand out reluctantly to shake his. He eyed her suspiciously as if he didn't trust her and she made a mental note to herself that he was going to be hard to be friends with. She was astounded by all the new faces that surrounded her, the many different shades of people and personalities. Although she had just met them, there was something warm about them, like a fireplace in the winter. As soon as introductions were over, most of the members of the group scattered, as they dispersed to go home.

* * *

As soon as Kurumi was about to leave to go home, a hand gently tapped her on the back.

"S..senpai," Yamaguchi looked away as she turned to face him, "I think the group members are going to eat nikuman together…i…if it isn't a bother… would you like to come with us?"

"is that okay?" Her eyes widened as she received the invitation, amazed that someone was asking her something that was not related to schoolwork.

"Of cour—"

"Well, they're obligated to invite you, now that you're part of the team," Tsukishima interrupted, poking his head in front of Yamaguchi's.

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi exclaimed, his eyes darting nervously between Kurumi and Tsukishima, feeling the tension between them.

Kurumi cocked her head to the left and narrowed her eyes at the blonde giant. He was a first year, wasn't he? And she was a second year, wasn't she? Clearly, something was missing.

"Oi," her voice dropped, "don't you think you're being too disrespectful here? I'm a year older than you,"

"It's just a year and besides you're so short that it's so hard to see you as a senpai," Tsukishima smirked as he looked down at her, clearly amused with her reaction.

Suddenly, something snapped inside of her, and she had the sudden urge to wipe that cocky grin off his face and snatch his glasses away from his face. Thankfully, before she had the chance to, Yamaguchi intervened in between them, "Senpai! He's just kidding, right Tsukki?"

"Of course," Tsukishima shrugged, with the grin still on his face.


	2. Chapter 2: nikuman

Summers are so hot, I feel bad for my dog because think of all that excess heat that comes from their fur. Also electricity is expensive so turning on the AC is expensive... sigh summer.

As always any comments, thoughts are much appreciated 3

* * *

_"Friendship is a strange feeling,"_

Yamaguchi sighed as he tried to be the mediator between his best friend and the cute senpai he had just met. The three of them walked down the street in this exact order, Kurumi, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima in order to avoid a fight from breaking out. Every now and then, Tsukishima would throw a nasty implied insult at her, and then he would try to unsuccessfully convince her that it was not an insult and that she was interpreting it the wrong way.

"Yamaguchi!" Kurumi yelled, detaching him from his thoughts.

"Yes!" Yamaguchi jolted upwards at the unexpected volume.

"How are you friends with this jerk? I don't understand," Kurumi shot Tsukishima a glare as they walked down the hill.

"He's not that bad really, he's a nice person once you get to know him," Yamaguchi scratched the back of his head shyly.

"See, senpai, I'm a nice person, you just have to get to know me," Tsukishima tilted his head upward, so that he would be looking down at her yet again, something that he realized that she hated.

She clenched her fist at the sight of his victorious face, "who would want to get to know you, you douche," she spat as she powerwalked ahead of them, not wanting to be near Tsukishima any longer.

To Yamaguchi's surprise, Tsukishima let out a loud laugh as he watched her run over to the group that was beginning to assemble near the convenience store.

"Maybe you should be a little nicer, Tsukki," Yamaguchi nervously suggested, giving the blonde male a look.

Tsukishima's long arms rested on top of his head as he turned to face his friend and said, "I see no need to be nice,"

* * *

When Kurumi arrived in front of the convenience store, the more agreeable of the pack were enjoying their time eating nikuman. The sun setting in the background, the laughter of teammates in the distance, it was a rare sight for her. These were all things she would have never imagined doing because it was considered, "a waste of time," unknowingly, she felt a small smile creep up her face.

"Senpai," a distinct voice called out to her and she turned around to see Kageyama glaring at her with a nikuman in his hand. Surprised by his sudden approach, Kurumi's shaking hands carefully enveloped the small meat bun.

"…thanks," she managed to mutter, looking down. His shoes, although they were somewhat clean, were rough at the edges and worn out. I wonder how much he practices to get them that way, she mused silently. Her eyes remained locked on his shoes, until she could merely see the heel of his sneakers.

Finally convinced that he was gone, she looked up, only to see him towering over her again. There was a tiny squeak from the sound of her shoes as she instinctively jumped back in surprise.

"y..yes, kageyama-kun?" She gave him a nervous laugh while clutching her nikuman tightly.

He pointed at the food in her hand, "it's hot,"

Startled at his remark, she looked up and met eyes with him. His eyes were an enigma to her. They were narrow, slanted and yet, they seemed to be always looking forward.

Kageyama watched as the girl in front of him finally mustered enough courage to look him in the eye. She seemed scared of him and he wondered if it was his sheer presence or because of his eternal glare. But when she met his glance, he was taken aback by how fascinated she seemed by him. It was like the same expression Hinata had given him when he had hit his first spike. Suddenly realizing how uncomfortable he felt being analyzed, he shoved a bunch of napkins in her hand.

"It's hot," Kageyama repeated, walking back inside to where Sugawara and Daichi were.

Kurumi stared at the spot where Kageyama was standing until she processed what had just happened. Minutes later, a smile formed on her face when she understood the meaning of his actions. He's not that bad of a kid, she grinned to herself.

The sun started to sink lower and lower into the horizon, and Daichi dismissed all the members after they were done eating. Kurumi was in high spirits, unexpectedly, she had become acquainted with the volleyball club and they had formed a somewhat strange relationship, one that couldn't be called friendship yet but was close to a friendship that Kurumi ever got in her previous school.

* * *

Feeling confident, Kurumi decided to take a chance.

"Hinata," Kurumi yelled, while clutching her backpack tightly.

Although short, she could see his orange hair perk up at the sound of his name.

"Would…" Kurumi looked upward toward the sky, avoiding his gaze.

"Hn?" With his mouth full of nikuman, Hinata managed to make a noise.

She clenched her fists and shouted out, "Would you like to walk home with me?"

However, it came out a little bit louder than expected, and everyone that was outside turned and stared at them.

"huh?" astonished at the sudden invitation, Hinata swallowed the nikuman in his mouth.

"WHAT?" Overhearing their conversation, Tanaka jumped out from the crowd.

"What are you going to do Hinata? Obviously there's only one answer, there's only one. A girl is asking you out, you know and on top of that an older girl," Tanaka loomed over Hinata, giving him his Yankee glare.

"Eh?" Hinata's eyes darted from a troubled Kurumi to a jealous Tanaka, not knowing what to do.

"Uh, I, sure but I kind of live there, like up there and I'm not sure if you want to go that far because trees and its dark yeah dark and forests and…" Hinata stuttered while turning red, feeling the intimidation on his back caused by Tanaka.

"Ah no! I wasn't really asking you to like… that's not what I meant! I was wondering because I really want to get close with everyone and that wasn't really my intention! My house is that way so it's not really…" Kurumi waved her hands around dispersing any misunderstanding that Tanaka was causing.

"I'm sorry I live that way!" Hinata bowed, making Kurumi more troubled.

"No, no I'm sorry I asked!" She apologized, bowing slightly also.

Hinata and Kurumi looked at each other, and each at the sight of how they were acting, they let out a carefree laugh.

"S..Senpai, I can walk home with you if you want, my house is that way…" Yamaguchi suggested, quickly adverting his gaze right after he said it, embarrassed.

"Ah really, then-" Kurumi's face brightened only to be met with disappointment again.

"Of course, I'll be accompanying you, my house is that way too," Tsukishima pointed out with a sinister smile.

"…I think I'll be fine," Kurumi sarcastically smiled back at Tsukishima.

"I'm going to go inside, there's something I want to say to the captain," she explained to Yamaguchi who was still unsure of what to do about the tension between Tsukishima and Kurumi.

"I see… then… maybe next time…" Yamaguchi shyly whispered, "maybe next time we can walk together…"

"Definitely!" She answered with this time, a genuine smile of her own which drowned Yamaguchi's freckles in a bright shade of red.

"I hope that applies to me too," Tsukishima chimed in, not liking the idea of a mere girl taking away the friendship between him and Yamaguchi.

"Don't you have to be going now?" Kurumi retorted, clearly annoyed at Tsukishima's remarks.

Tsukishima scoffed and with that he turned his back on her and walked away, Yamaguchi trotting behind him like how a baby chick follows its mother. She watched as each said their unique byes, with Tsukishima merely giving her a quick nod of the head which she classified as a farewell. Their figures got smaller and smaller in the horizon as the sun dyed each portion of the sky a different color, almost like how the Karasuno volleyball team was comprised of unique people with personalities that didn't seem to match at times, but pulled through when they needed it the most.


	3. Chapter 3: teammates

I wish I knew how to read chinese because for some reason haikyuu raws are always in chinese, and i can't read them... and for another reason, I can never find the japanese raws, the ultimate struggle.

anyways, any comments, questions, suggestions, everything of that sort is much appreciated!

* * *

_"teammates"_

The store bell rang with a quaint jingle as she entered. Sitting across the table from each other were the rest of the volleyball team members, seriously discussing the lineup for the practice match. The looks on their faces as the contemplated what would be the most effective and helpful for their reminded Kurumi of the face that she would often make when she studied. The three heads looked up as they heard footsteps nearing them.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt…" She backed up a little, uneasy of the too serious atmosphere.

"No, no we just finished," Daichi stood up, the plastic chair creating an unpleasant sound with the floor.

"You're still here? Is there something you wanted?" Sugawara followed Daichi, and gently smiled at her, dissipating the somewhat heavy atmosphere

From the kind smile of Sugawara, Kurumi felt something in her shift a little and she hurriedly looked down to conceal the redness she felt rising within her cheeks.

"I just wanted to say… I know I'm underqualified, but I plan to try my best so thank you for having me!" Without much grace, she gave them a huge bow and held her head there, waiting for them to accept her.

Sugawara and Daichi stared at each other and let out a laugh while Kageyama peered down at her bowed down head.

Sugawara knelt down to face Kurumi who was now a radiant red from the laughter she mistook as them making fun of her.

"We're not teachers or anything, you don't have to act so stiff in front of us," Sugawara explained as she raised her head.

"We're all teammates now," Daichi put a hand on Kurumi's shoulder and she jumped at the sudden physical contact.

Teammates.

* * *

"Are you walking that way too, Kageyama-kun?" Kurumi's head popped out of Kageyama's side.

"…my house is near the station," he pointed out, not even bothering to stare at her.

"then we'll be walking the same way, I have to take the train anyways," her smile brightened even more as she started walking besides Kageyama.

His eyes glanced over at her grinning face, which he thought seemed a little stupid. To Kageyama, she was so easy to read, and it reminded him of another idiot that he knew and his head started to hurt just thinking about it.

The road to the station seemed longer than usual. Although the streetlights were illuminating the way, there was no one else on the roads, and it made the night colder, lonelier and darker. The night sky was decorated with stars and the stars were muffled with clouds, creating an eerie setting. Kurumi was happy with the company Kageyama provided her with, but he was silent the whole walk there, and it made her worry that he held an animosity towards her or something of the sort.

As soon as she was about to say something to break the silence, Kageyama suddenly pointed at something in the distance. She turned her head to see what he had discovered, only to see the very end of the train disappear off into the distance.

"…that's your train isn't it, senpai," Kageyama said, still staring off into the area where the train was a second ago.

"…yeah," Kurumi looked off into the distance, with nothing else to say.

"well then my house is –" Kageyama interjected, taking a step sideways.

"Kageyama, you're not going to leave me here alone right?" She grinned rather mischievously, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt.

* * *

The two bottles hit the metal floor with a clink and the green light on the vending machine faded away. The station was empty with the exception of a couple of people who were too busy to pay the two students any attention.

"You didn't have to stay you know," Kurumi mumbled as she picked up their refreshments from the vending machine.

"I didn't really have a choice…" Kageyama whispered, mainly to himself.

He grabbed the bottle that was extended out to him, and opened it with a click. Kurumi sat down in the seat next to his, and let out a big sigh, causing him to look at her strangely.

"weird," He commented truthfully, staring at the railroad tracks.

"Weird? Me?" She took a deep breath and looked up toward the sky, "I guess, I am pretty strange, this is all weird to me, being able to hang out like this after school, being around people like you," Kurumi turned to face Kageyama, and his unwavering eyes met hers.

"I have so much free time on my hands that I don't even know what to do with it. It's been a while since I've actually had time after school. It was always cram school for me. Once the bell marked the end of school, it also marked the beginning of another and it was always an endless cycle. Before I realized what was happening, I was already in high school with nothing in my mind except… well, studying. That's why, I guess in a sense, I don't really know how to act around groups, or you guys," Her eyes challenged his and awaited a response but none came and he merely listened to her speak. There was a pause in the conversation as she stopped to look at him.

"tobio-chan~" She called out playfully with a smile, kicking up her legs in unison.

His back prickled up at the sound of his first name that sounded so foreign coming from her mouth.

"W..What the heck!" His hair stood on edge as he shot her a glare with his face turning a shy pink.

She let out a laugh at his reaction, "I've always wanted to try that, friends… call each other by their first names right?"

Kageyama abruptly stood up, confused by her actions, "Whatever, I'm going home!"

"See you tomorrow," Kurumi paused, "tobio-chan!"

There it was again, a strange jumble of words that sounded like his name but didn't quite sound the same. Kageyama, fed up with her antics, shot her another glare but he couldn't wipe the word happiness off her face. He didn't understand her, to him; she was a strange breed of mammal. Did she have no shame? This was exactly why Kageyama never bothered with females because they always talked in riddles. Her speech patterns were erratic and there was no flow to the conversation at all, it went wherever she wanted to. Unlike setting the ball, no matter how much concentration he put into her words, he couldn't figure out her motive and it bothered him. He started to walk even faster and his stride seemed more dramatic as his footsteps echoed within the barren halls of the station.

Right before he was about to leave the station, he turned around. Sitting patiently on the station bench, was Kurumi, sipping her bottle of green tea. Her back seemed tinier than he remembered it and he almost made the mistake of going back to wait with her. But the sharp wind grazed the tip of his nose, and it reminded him of how late it was getting and without any hesitation this time, Kageyama left the station.


	4. Chapter 4: jokes

_"What can change the way you look at a person?"_

* * *

Amidst the bustling crowd of people, Kurumi stood, awkwardly squished in the corner near an old lady who was carrying a bag of groceries. The wrinkled lady, who seemed to be squinting at her through the heavy pair of spectacles, smiled at her and Kurumi, astonished by the kind smile sent her way, tried to give the old lady the kindest smile she could muster.

Kurumi turned towards the doors and examined her smiling face reflected through the glass. She jumped back, shocked by the somewhat scary face that was reflecting off the glass. Her hair, which reminded her of the color of the shadows that she was once scared of as a child, was sticking out in several places and although her hair was once short, it was growing out, now almost shoulder length. Amidst the black curtains that draped over her forehead, her small pale face seemed like a dot in the middle of a black background. Her face was not one of a woman; in fact, she still had baby fat around her cheeks, which she hoped she would lose one day. Perhaps it was the lack of nutrients and vitamins that she never got, but she was of, what she thought average height, almost reaching 160 centimeters. The toll of staying up to study was prevalent on her face as her dark circles lined her eyes which still retained the gleam of the curiosity of a child. Her school uniform was still a little too big on her although she had gotten it tailored. Despite being on the shorter end of the spectrum, Kurumi was fairly thin because she used to see eating as a waste of time, especially when she could be studying.

* * *

As the train stopped with a disagreeable noise, majority of the adults who were all dressed in business casual got out and students piled in. The myriad of bobbing heads made it hard for Kurumi to see who exactly was getting on but she could clearly see the familiar outline of a certain blonde, which signaled to her that a specific freckled faced boy would be somewhere nearby.

Uncomfortably hobbling and leaping to where she assumed her friends were, she managed to get in proximity of where they were.

"Yamaguchi!" She tried calling, hoping that it would be enough to get their attention.

Yamaguchi, hearing the faintest sound of his name being called took a wide glace around the area but didn't see anything.

"Tsukki," He tapped on the shoulder, "Did you hear something?"

"Not really," Tsukishima, terribly annoyed by the sheer amount of people crammed into the train, was not in the mood to do anything.

Even though her last attempt ended in failure, Kurumi tried again, this time hoping to get the taller boy's attention.

"Tsukishima!" With even more energy than before, she lunged at them with force and her raised hand came in contact with something hard.

"Ah, good morning," Kurumi smiled nervously, realizing that her hand had smacked Tsukishima's glasses.

Feeling more irritated by her presence, Tsukishima peeled off her hand from the front lens of his glasses and frowned. This girl always caused trouble for him and it was one of the main reasons he didn't appreciate her always latching around Yamaguchi. She was his senior and yet here she was trying to be friends with her juniors, did she not have friends of her own age?

"tch," Tsukishima scoffed, "look at the hand marks you made on them,"

"Sorry," Kurumi sheepishly muttered, "Let me clean them—"

She attempted to reach for Tsukishima's glasses when he pulled them out of her range.

"Don't touch them," He glared down at her, feeling like a winner because he held an advantage over her.

"g…good morning," Yamaguchi stuttered, realizing the heavy atmosphere forming in between Tsukishima and Kurumi.

Kurumi's complexion brightened as soon as Yamaguchi opened his mouth to greet her.

"good—" But before she could finish her greeting to him, Yamaguchi was suddenly dragged away by three girls, who seemed to be whispering in their direction. Three pairs of arms gripped onto Yamaguchi's lanky arm and whisked him away to a side of the train where Kurumi could not see him.

"Where did he…?" Kurumi stared up towards Tsukishima for some sort of answer, but he didn't acknowledge any of her questions and pretended that she didn't say anything at all.

As the train zoomed past the towering buildings, no conversation was flowing between Kurumi and Tsukishima. Her minuscule hands gripped the top rung of the handlebars as she clung on as tightly as she could while Tsukishima merely peered out the window. Feeling awkward without Yamaguchi facilitating some sort of conversation between them, Kurumi decided to speak up.

"Does Yamaguchi always get this sort of treatment?" She piped up, thinking that the only topic that Tsukishima would want to talk about was Yamaguchi.

Tsukishima tried to suppress a frown as he saw this as a futile attempt by Kurumi to start up a conversation with him, "I guess so,"

"I guess naturally someone like that is popular with the girls," She commented, not sure of what his response meant.

"popular?" He scoffed at what he considered her incapability to absorb what was going on, "not at all, they're not talking to him because they're interested in, it's the opposite actually,"

Looking over to where she could get a small glimpse at the girls that took Yamaguchi away, Kurumi observed that they were fairly cute.

"What do you mean? They're pretty cute girls… I think," She frowned at Tsukishima, not really understanding what he was saying.

"Cute?" Tsukishima also looked toward where the crowd was, "If you think that's cute then your standards are pretty low,"

Her face crinkled at his response and being the bigger person, she decided to ignore it because she didn't want to start a fight especially this early in the morning.

"I still don't get what's going on or why those girls stole Yamaguchi all of a sudden if they weren't interested in him," Her responses were tiring Tsukishima especially because she wasn't arguing with him. The only purpose that she served to him was providing him with a form of entertainment, mostly because Yamaguchi wasn't here to entertain him.

"Okay, here look at this," Obviously she wasn't understanding the situation when he was explaining to her verbally, so he would just have to show her. How could someone be so ignorant? Just then he thought of a great idea, something that would entice a superb reaction out of her. Tsukishima drew in closer to where Kurumi was, his face grazing past her cheek, the tips of his short blonde hair brushing against the side of her neck until his lips were beside her ear.

"Now watch, when I separate from this position, those girls will be glaring at you. Want to know why? Because they'll see you as a rival now," Every syllable that came out of his mouth made her shiver, almost to the point that she could feel her knees weaken. Tsukishima was convinced that when he withdrew his face, she would be yelling words of extreme animosity or something of the sort which would make him the winner of this battle. But when he took a step back to examine her face, he was met with the reddened version of the face of Kurumi, whose once unwavering eyes were clouded with confusion. He too was taken aback by this strange expression of hers that he would never expect to see. This wasn't the reaction that he wanted; this wasn't what he was supposed to see. Like a chain effect, Tsukishima too unknowingly started to turn his own shade of red, and realizing how close his face was to hers, hurriedly retracted back to his previous position. Tsukishima awkwardly fixed the position of his glasses with his hand, not knowing what to say next. For a moment, he was painfully reminded of the fact that Kurumi was most definitely a girl.

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Uh yeah, I was on vacation, I apologize. I'll try to write faster for the sake of moving this story along, haha..ha. Slow development is my thing I guess. Hopefully, you'll bear with me as I try to get things moving. Thanks for all the nice words, they really touch my heart, really. And as usual any comments are appreciated so drop a review for me.


	5. Chapter 5: misunderstandings

I'm still alive, I just haven't been updating recently...yeah but I will finish this story till the end, no matter how long it takes!

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_"Sometimes good intentions don't translate well into words"_

It was a good awkward 10 minutes as they both stared off into the distance, wondering what was supposed to happen next. But Kurumi, wanting to alleviate the situation as soon as possible asked what she considered a harmless question.

"So, what kind of person is Yamaguchi," She struggled to find a common ground but managed to think of something that she thought was easier to talk about.

"You can answer that yourself, you're acquainted with him," Tsukishima mumbled as he fixed his gaze on the passing buildings.

"How did you become friends with Yamaguchi because your personalities are… very… different?" She asked, also looking outside the window.

"We were friends since we were young," He replied with the least amount of words possible.  
"Oh, so you must know a lot about him! Does he have any hobbies?" She smacked herself as she realized what was coming out of her mouth. She was not a morning person and her brain just was not function the way it should be.

Suddenly, Tsukishima abruptly turned to face her, which caused her to jump a little.

"W..What?" She stuttered, the memory of what happened earlier lingering in her mind.

His eyebrows were furrowed, and he looked like he was going to explode, "Do you like Yamaguchi or something? Is this your plan, to get close to me so you can extract some sort of information out of me?"

The sharp words that spewed out of his mouth had an edge to them and she recoiled at the mere tone of his voice.

"N..No!"She argued back, trying to clear up the misunderstanding, "I was just trying to—"

Her attempt at an explanation as the boy that they were just talking about entered without a clue of what was going on.

"Sorry about that," Yamaguchi scratched his head as he unknowingly entered the conversation. Both sides became quiet at the sound of his voice and they both looked toward opposite directions as the atmosphere got heavier and heavier.

"I was just trying to get to know you better too…" Kurumi thought to herself, finishing the sentence she hoped would put Tsukishima in a better mood.

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Despite the morning cacophony, the train chugged onto its destination. The three students hung onto the handles at the top, due to the sheer amount of people that were boarding so early in the morning. There was nothing but silence between the three of them as Yamaguchi looked at Tsukishima and then at Kurumi and could not imagine what could have happened to make it this awkward.

Just then, the female sitting in front of them exited, leaving an extra seat. Seeing an open opportunity to engage in a conversation, Yamaguchi opened his mouth, "Ah, do you want to sit down?"

He motioned at the empty seat and politely asked Kurumi, as she was a girl and a year older.

"No," She declined with a smile, "it's okay! I haven't been standing for a long time so you should sit there Yamaguchi, I mean you're probably tired after talking to the girls back there,"

Also, if I probably took the seat, Tsukishima would probably blow a fuse, she predicted to herself. She carefully glanced toward his direction to try to read his face, but he was completely turned the other way and he had no intention of conversing with her.

"Tsukki, sit—" Yamaguchi suggested, offering the seat to his friend.

"No," Hostility laced his word and Yamaguchi knew to back off when he was like this.

"Kurumi-san, you should really sit down, no one else really wants the seat so it's common sense that it should go to you, you're older than us after all," Yamaguchi smiled at her.

"No, I'm good really, you can sit, sitting makes me a bit restless," she admitted, looking down, happy at his offer.

Although Tsukishima was not even looking down at the scene that was unfolding in front of him, he could hear it, and it was easy for him to envision just what kind of faces they were making, and truthfully, it wanted to make him throw up. They were arguing about something trivial and yet they made it seem like it was like crowning someone a king. He wondered if they were actually acting polite, or if it was just a scheme so that others could perceive them that way. Either way, it was something that was bothering Tsukishima, and he had decided that he would put an end to it.

Pushing the both of them aside, his large structure plopped down in the seat, claiming the free seat as his.

"I'll sit, was that so hard," He glared at the both of them through his glasses and once again, silence enveloped them. Deep inside, Tsukishima was quite proud of his actions, as he stopped the pointless arguing and a faint smile appeared on his face. However, his smile only lasted a few seconds as he realized that the situation had gotten worse.

The two had now moved closer to each other and were now engaged in another conversation, one that did not involve him and what made Tsukishima angrier was that they did not even pay the slightest attention to him or the fact that he had stolen the seat that they were arguing about a couple of minutes ago. To make matters even worse, he could not hear what they were talking about but he could see their faces beaming with laughter and joy as they talked.

It was all her fault, Tsukishima blamed. She was the cause of this disturbance so early in the morning that would probably ruin the rest of his day. What could they be talking about, he wondered, trying to read their lips. Feeling like an overly jealous friend, Tsukishima put on his headphones and closed his eyes, trying to ignore what was happening. His pride would not allow him to venture more in this matter.

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Kurumi glanced down at Tsukishima who in her eyes, seemed to be sleeping with an angered expression on his face.

"Yamaguchi," She inquired, "I don't think Tsukishima likes me much,"

"W..well, Tsukishima doesn't really like a lot of people," He nodded, trying to alleviate her worries.

"But, I wish we could get along, we're always so hostile and I don't understand where his animosity towards me stems from," She mumbled in Tsukishima's direction.

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That's all for today so if you have something to say, leave a review! Much thanks.


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